NEWS

Toys across India to be tested for toxicity

Source: Indian Express, New Delhi, Date: November , 2009

In a major exercise, all toys — whether manufactured in India or abroad
— available in the domestic market will be screened for toxicity under
the guidance of the ICMR by experts of the National Institute of
Occupational Health (NIOH), Ahmedabad, National Institute of Nutrition
(NIN), Hyderabad, and the All India Institute of Medical Sciences
(AIIMS), New Delhi. The exercise comes following the Supreme Court
taking an interest in ascertaining the level of pigments used to coat
toys. According to experts, most India- and China-made toys are coated
with substances comprising heavy metals such as lead and cadmium, which
can be poisonous and even affect the brain. NIN officials informed, even
as Chinese toys have been banned, the issue has become moiré urgent
after Chinese toy manufacturing industries approached an international
court to lift the ban. Sources at NIOH said that they have begun
collecting toys from metropolitan cities across India, including Ahmedabad.